When You Need Lots of Flowers To Brighten Up Your Day...
Good morning from my enchanted garden! It’s grey outside and the world seems grey too, with so much sad news every day, and sometimes it’s hard to continue creating during those moments ~ sometimes flowers seem insignificant and small. But then I remember how seeing a bright bloom, even during times I felt so down, would give me a burst of happiness and joy, even momentarily, and add a little more color to my day. So maybe growing bright flower jewelry, and adding what color I can to the world, will help a bit. And I’ve definitely learned that during these times, going on a floral adventure and visiting a beautiful garden (or even just getting out for a walk to find the flowers blooming in my neighborhood!) helps so much.
Flowers still bloom, the birds still chirp and butterflies flutter ~ it’s a much-needed escape into a more fairytale world, and I hope my newsletters and photos and the flower jewelry I create can be a bit of an escape for you too and that the color and sparkle can give you a spark of joy and a little strength (like a floral armor) as you go about your day. And I hope the world gets better soon, that we all spend more time gardening and creating art and watching the birds and getting dressed up and dancing, instead of fighting. Maybe it’s a utopia fairytale dream, but I think we have to try.
So here’s what I’ve been creating and here are the moments of joy I’ve been finding, even if I have to force myself to get out and about! But I’ve found it’s always worth it, making art and doing what we love and adding a bit of joy to the world is a very grounding remedy. And despite my frequent desire to curl up with a book and tea instead, making the effort to go on a floral adventure (even it if’s a bit of a journey!) always, always makes me feel so much better and I feel very lucky to be able to do so.
Perhaps these times call for larger, brighter, even more color and sparkling flower jewelry than ever before. So I’ve been growing a magical flower necklace with three glorious blooms (perhaps I somehow felt this was what we needed weeks ago when I began creating it), and it’s blossomed with endless layers of color and joy. Painting each layer of bright glitter and placing each rhinestone and creating rainbow upon rainbow across its petals has been a slow and beautiful process. Growing this new flower necklace has been my favorite thing to do in my enchanted garden each morning as I sit and have my tea, and surrounding myself with bright glistening colors has made me feel so much better ~ I hope this magical flower necklace brings you all the extra color, shimmer, sparkle and joy that you need!
A few weeks ago, I knew it was around the time that the magical rose garden at the New York Botanical Garden should be approaching full bloom, so I woke up early one morning and hopped on the train and I was so, so glad that I did. I was worried about being away from my enchanted garden, with so much new flower jewelry that I wanted to create, and what if the garden was crowded or the roses weren’t in full bloom yet or the train was a hassle? So many worries that instantly disappeared the moment I stepped into the garden and felt the early morning sun shining down among the bright green leaves and heard the birds chirping their hellos and saw the huge blue sky overhead. I was instantly transported to another world, so far away from the busy city and my anxious thoughts. The flowers beckoned and I couldn’t wait to explore…
I walked through the forest and across the meadows with all their new spring flowers and then I could finally see the rose garden blooming peacefully beneath me, from where I was standing atop a beautiful hill dotted with lilacs. This is always my favorite moment of visiting this beautiful garden ~ seeing (and smelling!) those beautiful bursts of pink and red blooms in the distance, especially among the early morning haze, feels like seeing a fairytale realm that you actually get to visit. I think I practically ran the rest of the way there, so excited to be immersed among the blooms. There were gorgeous waves of endless roses blooming in every shade of pink, red, coral, lavender, yellow and orange, blossoming in every direction I looked with so many glorious, winding paths among them…I could spend an entire day here and feel like I never saw the same rose or wandered down the same beautiful fairytale path twice.
I just finished reading a book about Beatrix Farrand, one of the very first garden designers in the early 1900s and definitely one of the first women to enter the profession, and she designed this glorious rose garden over a century ago. But due to budget constraints and the war and so many things, her vision was never realized and her dream rose garden slumbered like a flower bud yet to bloom. But then her designs were rediscovered and the botanical garden finally brought her vision of this fairytale world to life and I’m so happy they did. I wish she could see it! Perhaps she can. It's a truly magical place.
And the magic continued because I had the most wonderful surprise at the garden ~ the peonies were in full bloom too! I had never seen them here before, since they don’t bloom for very long, and it was just endless layers of fluffy pink fairytale blooms and they made me so happy! These pink floral clouds looked as if they were just waiting for a flower fairy to float down and curl up in their soft petals for a morning nap. It was tempting! Truly a pink heaven. They reminded me that we are always met with wonderful surprises when we decide to go on an adventure…
I hope this inspires you to go on your own dream adventures too, even if (especially if!) the world feels grey. It doesn’t have to be a big vacation, it can be near to home ~ I just hope you find some color and joy.
I left the botanical garden feeling revived and inspired and so happy to get back to my own enchanted garden and grow more bright blooming flower jewelry for us. I’ve been dreaming up new designs to make us feel like flower fairy queens, so we can create our own sparkling sunshine even on the rainy days. Jewelry and flowers don’t cure everything, but I think a spark of color and joy can carry us through a lot by lifting our spirits when we need it the most and i hope my flower jewelry does that for you!
I hope things are looking a little brighter next time I write my newsletter and I can’t wait to share more flower jewelry with you soon. Until then, stay as well as you can and don’t forget to notice all the summer blooms! Hugs from my enchanted garden!